I really did take pictures on April 25th, when Harrison turned 7 months.. I promise! The same day I also took some newborn shots for my friend and then a few days later I took some pictures of my newborn niece. I got the newborn pictures edited and shared and that used up all my computer time until now.
I can hardly even remember what Harrison did just before turning 7 months. We had a six month check up and he was in the 80-something percentiles for height and weight. He weighted 17lbs and 6oz. He just started sitting up for over half a minute, but continues to be pretty unsteady and usually ends up arching his back and losing his balance. This kid is a roller! Emerson didn't roll at all but he gets himself all over the place by rolling. I don't think he actually intends to go anywhere. We've tried putting all the toys in one corner of the rug and him in another and he looks at them, tries to reach them and then gives up, yet eventually he'll roll around and play with whatever he finds, book basket, shoe, carpet fuzz and oh hey, a toy! I've been a little lacking on videos, so here's some laughter:
Harrison is still very much my happy, sweet boy. Wakes up happy and goes to sleep pretty easily. He LOVES to put everything and anything in his mouth but doesn't quite seem ready for food yet. He is still my blankie boy and loves his mommy. He also loves to watch Emerson and continues to prioritize socialization and staying alert to any possible noise or movement in the room over eating and sleeping. I still have to take him to a different room if I actually want him to eat. His sister is losing patience for that (which makes mommy lose patience).
I am just treasuring every moment with him, because as usual, this first year goes so quickly. I'm excited to see what will develop as time goes but I'm in no hurry for those thighs to slim down or those cheeks to melt away. I'm soaking in every smell, every smile and every moment to sit and cuddle (even if it means his sister is stamping her arm up in the next room...).
Aaand pictures.
This sequence cracks me up
Trying on cute hat
Baby realizes cute hat is on his head
Baby does what babies do with hats
Puts hat in mouth
He doesn't look as tired of pictures as he was ;)
He's just so sweet and patient with her (if babies could actually be patient)
I left them at storytime to go get some books and I get this picture in a text. First time sitting! Daddy said he balanced for 45 seconds.
There was some adult foot support here, under the water.. but they both love their baths.
Helping me do laundry
We sure do [Love life]
I love this picture of her. It's just exactly Emerson. Messy hair, real smile. She was so proud to be taking pictures of us. She's getting pretty good.
She took this picture <3 a="" and="" few="" focused="" it="" less="" like="" more="" td="" that="" were="">
And several like this.
And since you made it to the end, another video. This cracks me up (wait until the end).. it's classic Harrison.. just easy going love bug.
Harrison is still our smiley, happy guy. He's into his raspberries and chewing on his fingers or ... anything he gets his hands on. I thought he might be teething because he was moving his tongue really funny but I think he's just chewing on it. ;)
He hasn't grown in length, still 25.5" and I haven't weighed him (his 6 mo appt is soon). He seems to have gotten wider though, mostly in the cheeks ;). He still fits into some 3 month clothes, mostly 6 months though and some 9 month (especially pants, primarily because of the fluffy cloth diaper bum).
Harrison is a talker too. He babbles away and we get a lot of /d/s and /b/s right now. He really gets to talking to his toys while he plays and as he gets hungrier, he gets a little more aggressive with his eating/talking. :)
He still loves tummy time and can do it a little longer each day. He really wants to sit up, and likes to try. He's gotten a little more stable but isn't anywhere close to independent sitting yet. He's good at grabbing and bringing to his mouth though!
He's just so happy and full of smiles. He does love his momma best ;) but daddy, Emerson and almost anyone that stops to talk to him are close behind. He's pretty good at entertaining himself but also loves having books read to him or songs sung to him. Emerson is really good about singing songs to him. He's ticklish under his arms and on his thighs and even if you don't touch him ;).
He's really not ready for food yet, and doesn't really have signs of teeth either, so we'll hold of on that for awhile.
Harrison is a great sleeper (dare I say that publicly) in the sense that he takes nice length of naps and has a sort of rhythm to his naps (not really a schedule but it's predictable). He also is pretty good about laying down and talking himself to sleep, as long as he's nice and full.
I just can't get over how sweet he is! I just love how his face lights up when I see him. We sure love this guy!
Hmmm.. yes, I could eat that!
What?! Did you say something?
Raspberries!
And all our favorite outfits...
Spoiler.. this is his Easter outfit
I love this flannel
And my new favorite jammies
She was all ready to take a picture and then she notices a hang nail... she's obsessed with hang nails.
I loved these shots with Emerson, thought I'd give him the chance to develop his inner shutterbug...
Way back in July, 2015 we went backpacking. We try to go a few times a year and at least once with our good friends, the Sauras. This has gotten more interesting as our families have grown. The year before we went for the first time with our toddlers and Whitney braved the trek while pregnant. This year, Whitney impressively packed in two kids and it was my turn to carry a pack while pregnant.
We went back and forth about whether we should even try to backpack with little ones again, or if we should just car camp and make life a little easier. I'm a die-hard and my vote was always that we go backpacking but Blake was questioning and Sauras had quite the logistical challenge with fitting all their gear and two kids on two backs. In the end, we agreed we should just go for it.
Sol Duc Falls is a very popular area and permits are required for overnight backpacking trips. We were having a hard time picking a trail this year because there are only so many short, flat trails that also allow overnight camping. We finally decided on Sol Duc a week before our trip was planned and it was a long shot that we would get a permit for one of the few camping spots on the trail. The only things in our favor were that we were applying for weeknights and that we wanted the first or second camping spots on the trail, so as to only have to hike 1-2 miles in, and most people wanted to go farther in (like we would have a couple of years ago).We ended up getting a permit for the first camping spot on the trail, making our hike a whopping mile in, mile out.
In the trailhead parking lot, I took my camera battery off the charger and stuck it in my camera. We loaded our gear and put our packs on (no small feat) and headed to the trailhead. I set up for the obligatory trailhead picture and ... no juice. Completely dead battery. I guess leaving the battery on the charger while it wasn't plugged in, zapped all the power back out of the battery. We probably should have taken this as a sign that we should have just turned around right then, but we'll get into that later. Thankfully, Jason has a big camera too, so we still got our trailhead photo.
It was a gorgeous hike and a beautiful day. It was so fun to see our toddlers enjoying the outdoors and doing more hiking on their own. We felt like one mile in was the perfect distance for them... and maybe us too ;)!
It's this way guys!
Whitney's impressive load, she added Lincs to that at some point too!
All the girls
Family selfie
This little clip is pretty representative of the last half of our hike in. She is reciting Going on a Bear Hunt with me.
We made it to the falls (no surprise, since it's just under a mile) and took in the pretty view before trying to figure out where the trail continued and how we found our designated camp spot. It wasn't entirely clear but we eventually figured it out and set up our tents.
After we got set up, we explored a little around our camping area. This was during the height of the forest fires so no campfires were allowed. We were just up from the river, so that provided some entertainment and there was plenty to explore.
First things first though, Emerson needed a bath. Backstory: she had been potty trained for awhile, with the exception of naps/nighttime and long car trips (which were usually a nap too). When we left the house she wore special underwear that is like the cloth equivalent to a pull up. Still some absorbency but trim and pulls up and down. They can hold about one good pee but aren't as absorbent as a diaper. She rarely had accidents at home but being in her car seat for any length of time was usually hit or miss. She was at that point where you had to take her asap if she said she had to go. So I had packed diapers for naps/bedtime and the car rides and I packed her underwear. At this point in the hike.. she had wet through to her pants three different times. The previous two times I washed and dried out her pants in a restroom but this time we were on the trail and although she told us she had to pee, we found out that the hiking backpack was the same as a car seat and it was always too late. So she had to walk since her pants were soggy through. It was unbelievably frustrating since this was waaaay more accidents than she usually has and more than I had accounted for in my attempt at minimalist backpack packing. To be fair, it was a lot of stop and go traveling to get to the trailhead. End backstory.
So we headed down to the river to give her a little bit of a bath. She loves water she can stand in, really cold or not, so she was happy to get to splash around a little.
And then the rain started. We were in the Olympic National (rain)Forest, so I'm not sure why we didn't think of this likelihood, but apparently we didn't. Blake and I brought light jackets that were somewhat water resistant but Emerson doesn't have a rain jacket and she loves to live in her red jacket so that's what we brought for her, just light sweatshirt material. We also only packed her two pairs of pants and a shirt in addition to pajamas. We were halfway through day one and only had one pair of pants and one shirt left for her and it was raining, raining, raining.
Entertaining toddlers while backpacking can be hard enough but in the middle of the woods and add in some rain and no campfire and it's a little trickier. Whitney is good though and she entertained the kiddos while we set up camp.
They were holding hands. This was adorable, even if this isn't the best picture of it.
They could have spent hours down here, but unfortunately, it was right out in the rain.
Our humble abode.
Our campsite.
It was a long night. By the time we ate dinner and went to bed we were all soaked. I had dry pajamas and so did Emerson, but Blake didn't. We packed light because it's backpacking and that's what you do. Also, there were fires everywhere and it was warm in general. We picked the only rainy weekend in quite some time. Irony I guess. After a fairly sleepless night for everyone, except maybe Emerson, we were all fairly ready to pack it in. We had a little tent-to-tent discussion and started packing up camp. We were off after breakfast (or did we even eat breakfast?) and paused only for a few pictures at the falls (and some entertainment when Jason tried to ask the international tourist to take our picture and she basically said/gestured 'no thanks I'm with that guy over there'.. she thought he wanted to take her picture).
Sol Duc Falls
We hiked out as fast as we could (this pregnant momma wanted to use the 'real' bathroom). We did manage to get a selfie in front of the sign before I literally booked it to the bathroom (I'm only slightly ashamed to say that someone else was coming and I didn't want to risk my place in line).
